Troll sues Apple again: same patent, new devices

Personal Audio LLC is going after Apple again after having won an $8 million …

Personal Audio LLC, the patent holding firm that recently won an $8 million judgment against Apple over playlist implementation in the iPod, has filed a new lawsuit against Apple. The new patent suit addresses the same thing—music playlists—but on newer Apple products such as the sixth-generation iPod nano, fourth-generation iPod shuffle, iPad 2, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch.

Personal Audio first sued Apple (as well as Sirius XM Radio, Archos, and Coby Electronics) in 2009 for violating two of its patents that covered downloadable playlists to a device. At the time, the patent firm wanted $84 million in damages and targeted Apple products that go way back to the birth of the iPod in 2001. The other companies eventually settled, leaving Apple to defend itself against Personal Audio, resulting in an $8 million judgment against Apple earlier this month.

Apple had made some stipulations in that first lawsuit with Personal Audio, though. The original suit only ended up covering the first six generations of the original iPod/iPod classic, all iPod minis, and the first five generations of the iPod nano, with Apple arguing that the newer products should be filtered out into a separate lawsuit (undoubtedly because they handle playlists differently than the older products). So, Personal Audio did just that with Apple's latest-generation iDevices and threw in the iPad 2 for good measure (which was not mentioned by the original lawsuit). The company is now asserting one of the same two patents from its original lawsuit against five of Apple's newer offerings.

One again, Personal Audio is going after Apple for willful infringement for continuing to sell these products in the US without a license or permission from Personal Audio. (The infringement is apparently willful because Apple knew about its alleged infringement "at least since Personal Audio filed its complaint in Personal Audio v. Apple I on June 25, 2009.") The patent firm not only wants damages, it wants a permanent injunction in order to stop Apple from continuing to sell its infringing products—either that, or a judgment that would have Apple pay royalties for future infringements.

Apple recently revealed during its third quarter earnings call that it has $76.2 billion in its cash reserves, so another judgment in the neighborhood of $8 million wouldn't put much of a dent into the company. Nor would a settlement, which seems to be the most likely outcome from this second lawsuit. Still, choosing whether to settle versus taking this dispute all the way to court—again—has to at least be an annoyance for Apple. As noted by FOSS Patents, such a settlement wouldn't hurt Apple much, but could be huge for Personal Audio, which is undoubtedly why the company chose to pursue a second lawsuit in the first place.